Paul Riopel, the longtime commissioner of North Central Alberta Baseball League (NCABL) believes it is only a matter of time before Barrhead fields a team.
The NCABL is a senior AA amateur baseball league established in 1968 that traditionally has between 10 and 12 teams, a notch or two below single ‘A’.
“We [NCABL] thought it had come back for a long time,” Riopel said about the Barrhead Orioles re-entry into the league in 2015 after about a 10-year hiatus. “There was a good active group and they got the Orioles back on their feet. They built a good, competitive team and it looked like they would be part of our league for some time.”
In March 2017, the Barrhead’s Orioles announced that it would no longer field a team citing a lack of interested players.
Like many NCABL teams, the Orioles were comprised of a number of players ranging from teenagers to middle-aged. However, on average, the Barrhead roster tended to be somewhat older than the league’s median age of 26.
“The younger guys on the team decided they would like to play against players closer to their own age,” said Ryan Warehime, one of the Barrhead Orioles NCABL team players and governors in an interview with the Leader in 2017.
This year a group of Barrhead players, many from the former NCABL team, joined with players from Slave Lake to form a Baseball Alberta ‘AAA’ Junior team playing under the Orioles moniker.
However, Riopel said, despite the exodus of players he is still confident that Barrhead has all the components necessary.
“I believe there is still enough talent in the Barrhead region to not only fill an NCABL roster but be competitive, plus you have all the infrastructure needed. A well-maintained diamond and all the training facilities, such as your beautiful aquatics centre, so they are ready to play,” he said. “All that is needed is less than a handful of people to take leadership roles on and off the field, a team manager, a community liaison, and a head and assistant coach.”
Riopel added that once those things are in place, Barrhead is in good stead to have both a junior and an NCABL team.
“There is a lot of interest in baseball among the area’s youth,” he said. “Last year Barrhead fielded two midget teams, which is a feeder for the junior club and once they graduated they would, in turn, feed the NCABL team.”
